Rio Olympics 2016: Lalita, Dattu provide cheer on dismal day

Rio de Janeiro: Long distance runner Lalita Babar kept India’s hopes alive by qualifying for the women’s 3,000 metre Steeplechase finals while rower Dattu Bhokanal topped the Final C to finish 13th overall in another dismal day which saw the women’s hockey team’s quarter-final dreams dashed by Argentina.

Indian shuttlers Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy also added a triumphant note late in the day, defeating Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa of Japan in straight games in their final Group D match of the men’s doubles competition here on Saturday.

The Indians, who had already crashed out of medal contention, fought off a spirited challenge by the Japanese duo in the opening game to win 23-21, 21-11 in just 34 minutes at the Riocentro Pavilion 4

Two more Indian runners — Sudha Singh and Nirmala Sheoran — alongwith the women’s badminton doubles duo of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa and shooters Gurpreet Singh and Mairaj Ahmad Khan also flunked to add to India’s misery at the 31st Olympic Games.

Later in the day, the Indian duo of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna went down fighting in the semi-finals of the mixed doubles tennis event to the US team of Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram.

The Indians won the first set quite comfortably before squandering the lead and going down 6-2, 2-6, 3-10 in one hour and 17 minutes at the Olympic Tennis Centre.

Sania and Bopanna will now have to contest the play-off for the bronze medal.

The golfers also could not provide any cheer as S.S.P. Chawrasia and Anirban Lahiri finished tied 22nd and joint 57th after posting two-under 69 and four-over 75 respectively in the third round.

Chawrasia, who took his three-day total to two-under 211, was looking set for a top-15 finish but two closing bogeys forced him to settle for a 69.

Lahiri continued his struggle and posted 75 — his worst score in three rounds. His 54-hole total stands at nine-over 222.

Disappointed Indian fans can however, take solace from Lalita’s performance, who shattered the national record in the women’s 3,000 metre Steeplechase to qualify for the final round.

She finished fourth fastest, clocking 9 minutes 19.76 seconds in the Round 1 Heat 2 at the Olympic Stadium to end overall seventh among the 15 qualifiers.

She qualified as a lucky loser, managing to squeeze in among the next top eight fastest outside the top two of each heat who qualified directly.

Lalita also became the first Indian woman to qualify for an individual Olympic track event final since P.T. Usha did so in 400m hurdles in the 1984 Games. She had finished fourth in the final.

The performance by the 2015 Asian Championship gold medallist was all the more praiseworthy as she had suffered a fall early in the race before putting in a stupendous effort to position herself in the leading group and even wresting the lead at one stage.

But Sudha failed to qualify for the final round after finishing a distant 30th in the overall rankings. She clocked 9 minutes 43.29 seconds in Round 1 Heat 3.

With this loss, India remained in the sixth spot, while the United States, Britain, Australia and Argentina made it to the quarters.

Shooters continued their dismal show in Rio, as Gurpreet failed to qualify for the finals of men’s 25 metre Rapid Fire Pistol qualifying event while Mairaj crashed out of men’s Skeet qualification round after a shoot-off for the final two spots.

Gurpreet finished seventh, just outside the six qualifying spots, with a cumulative 581 points with 24 inner 10s at the Olympic Shooting Centre.

Gurpreet, who was ranked 10th, scored 289 points with 10 inner 10s after the first qualifying stage. He scored 292 points in the second stage.

In Skeet, Mairaj shot a total of 121 along with four other shooters, requiring a shoot-off for the final two spots to reach the semi-finals at the Olympic Shooting Centre.

The 40-year-old found himself out of the race after managing to shoot a +3 to drop to the ninth place.

Shuttlers Jwala and Ashwini added insult to injury after losing their inconsequential Group A match against Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand to bow out of the Olympic Games.

Already out of the quarter-final race, Jwala and Ashwini lost 17-21, 15-21 against Puttita and Sapsiree.

With this loss, the Indian pair ended the Group A campaign with three consecutive losses. The Thai pair managed a win but it was not enough to take them through.

Later, Attri and Reddy ended their Olympic campaign on a positive note with an easy win.

Attri and Reddy were off to a superb start, opening up a comfortable 8-3 lead before the Japanese duo fought back to win eight of the next nine points to take a 11-9 lead at the break.

To their credit, the Indians continued to chip away at the deficit and eventually regained the lead at 20-19 before closing off the game and claim a 1-0 lead.

The second game was a completely one-sided affair as the Indians dominated proceedings with their powerful smashes and slick placements.

Attri and Reddy were enjoying a comfortable 11-5 lead at the break before claiming a well-deservrd victory

At the tennis courts, Sania and Bopanna imposed their domination in the early stages before Venus and Ram staged a superb comeback.

Bopanna stood out with his excellent returns and pinpoint placements at the net. Sania also played well with some intelligent service and good returns.

Venus and Ram took their time to settle and find their groove. They were somewhat subdued in the opening set and were totally outplayed by the Indians.